STEVE Claridge has warned his players they must improve if they are to catch Tiverton Town or Taunton Town in the race for second place.

The Salisbury head coach was left downbeat by his side’s performance on Saturday, despite them running out 3-1 winners over Paulton Rovers.

Goals from Tom Whelan, Eddie Perrett - who netted his maiden league goal - and Tommy Wright completed a sixth win on the spin.

Whites are in fourth place on 62 points but are now five points adrift of Taunton Town, who won their game in hand in midweek, and a further seven off Tiverton Town as they slipped to a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Slimbridge last night. Leaders Hereford are all but champions with a 17-point cushion.

With 11 games to go, Claridge is targeting a second place finish but isn’t convinced.

“Is your pint glass half full or half empty,” he reflected. “We need to keep going but if we put in a performance like that, we have absolutely no chance in getting out of this league.

“We’ve still got to go to Tiverton and Mangotsfield and we’ve still got Hereford at home. They are going to be tough games.

“It’s almost like you are coasting for it.

“You could win the race by 10 lengths and you’ve won it by a length.

“Second is a target but I don’t think it’s realistic. Nobody seems to be dropping points. Tiverton and Taunton are not dropping points. Evesham lost on Saturday but they aren’t the team we are trying to catch.

“There are going to be one or two tricky moments for everybody but, at this stage, we’ve got to make six or seven points up, which looks unlikely.”

To help with the promotion push, Claridge is on the lookout for one more recruit.

Brian Dutton, who is back at the Ray Mac after a three-year absence, picked up an injury on Saturday as did fellow defender George Colson.

“Everytime we think we are not in bad shape, numbers wise, we lose a couple more,” added Claridge.

“Dutts has gone off and George has slightly pulled his hamstring and we just don’t seem to finish a game without two or three injuries.

“You go from thinking that squad will do to now looking a bit threadbare.”

Whites travel to lowly Barnstaple Town on Saturday (3pm).